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MANILA, Philippines— The bodies of a man and a woman peppered with bullets, were found early Tuesday at they site where they were apparently summarily executed in Manila, police said.
But residents of Port Area near where the bodies were found were too scared to provide investigators information for fear of reprisal.
Senior Police Officer 2 Glenzor Vallejo of the Manila Police District’ homicide section told the Inquirer that the unwillingness of witnesses to come forward left investigators facing a blank wall.
Vallejo identified the slain man as Manap Sapak, 37, a native of Daguma, Bagumbayan in Sultan Kudarat, while his female companion remained unidentified. The investigator described the woman as being between 40 and 45 years old, four-foot-one tall, of medium build, and clad in a black shirt and gray short pants.
He said that both bodies, when found at around 2 a.m. Tuesday at Block 9 Extension of the Baseco Compound, bore multiple bullet wounds in the head and body from an M-14 automatic rifle, a caliber .45 pistol and a 9-mm pistol.
Barangay 649 Zone 68 officer Abdul Manan Amerol was informed by an area resident of the discovery of the two bodies and immediately sought the help of the police.
Vallejo pointed out that at the crime scene, the bodies lay on their bellies, with the back of their skulls apparently cracked open by the bullets.
Recovered near the bodies were two empty shells from an M-14 automatic rifle, three empty shells from a 9mm pistol, and a .45 caliber pistol shell.
Sapak was identified through a passport in his wallet while his female companion carried no identification card.
“They might have been ordered to kneel before they were both shot in the head at close range and then repeatedly shot where they fell,” the investigator told the Inquirer.
He described residents in the area as being “evasive” when he attempted to obtain information from them.
“Some of them told me they heard gunfire but immediately left when I started asking for details,” Vallejo said.
The bodies were taken to the Cruz funeral parlor for autopsy.